Wes, Thanks for the compliment! *blush* I had not heard about the record-keeping between Edgecombe and Halifax being a bit confused, but I wouldn't be surprised if it were true. In the introduction to her Abstracts of Deeds: Edgecombe Precinct, Edgecombe County, N.C., 1732-1758, Margaret Hofmann writes: "Edgecombe Precinct, N.C. was formed from Bertie in 1732 and Edgecombe County, N.C. was formed in 1741. Records indicate that Edgecombe court of the early 1730's was probably held from place to place at plantations within Edgecombe. In the late 1730's and early 40's, there seems to have been a courthouse of sorts near what is now Tillery, N.C. By about the mid 1740's the Edgecombe County Courthouse at Enfield, N.C. [in present-day Halifax] was in use. Early in 1759, when Halifax County, N.C. was formed from a part of Edgecombe County and the limit of Halifax County was set, one boundary was and still is Fishing Creek which flows just below Enfield. The Edgecombe County courthouse was then within the new county of Halifax. For this reason deeds in the Halifax County, N.C. public registry prior to 1759 call for land within the huge area that Edgecombe covered in its very early days." And of course, there has been movement between the counties throughout time. The 1918 History of Halifax County says: "Enfield having lost out in the contest for the county seat of Halifax, and losing also, on account of geographical reasons, the court house of Edgecombe, was destined further to lose the distinction of being the seat of the district court of Edgecombe, Northampton, and Granville. As soon as the county of Halifax was organized, the following year the district court was abolished, and the courthouse was purchased from Edgecombe County and moved to Halifax, or such portions of the building as could be used in putting up the new structure...Joseph Montford was elected first clerk of the County Court, and a full quota of officers was installed." So, they apparently at least had someone to keep records. Here's some of the marriages you wanted, from my book (Marriage Records: Halifax County, N.C. 1758-1872 by David Gammon): Coleman: Gilmoor, James W. and Sarah B. Coleman, 21 Dec. 1844 Coleman, James and Susan Lynch, 19 Dec. 1848 Coleman, John and Sarah Menslo, 22 Apr. 1817 Coleman, William S. and Elizabeth Shaw, 30 Jan. 1819 Jordan: Brown, Beverly and Mary Ann Jordan, 21 Apr. 1830 Richardson, Mosses and Temp Jourdan, 28 Oct. 1825 Jordan, Dotson and Susan Winters, 21 Aug. 1848 Jordan, Samuel and Rebecca Seat, 20 May 1826 There are too many Joneses (as usual) and no Cohoon/Cahoons at all. Traci the Librarian _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ From: "Wes Coleman (h)" <wcoleman@pdq.net> Edgecombe County Researchers: I am researching a line of Colemans from Nansemond County Virginia who settled in northern Edgecombe County NC, which became Halifax County in 1758. Unfortunately members of a Coleman line from Amelia County Virginia did the same. Therefore, it may be possible to separate them, or get some clues at least from the people the associated with, i.e., people whose names appeared on their deeds and wills. The Nansemond County line is closely associated with Jordans of the same origin. Some Cohoon (Cahoon) family members appear to have made the relocation about the same time. In the book, "The Robert Coleman Family from Virginia to Texas, 1652-1965", by the late J. P. Coleman, on p. 52 he records: The Robert Coleman, later to be described herein, patented land in Edgecombe County in 1756. He was in that part of Edgecombe which later became Halifax County, whereas the descendants of Robert Cole- man of Nansemond lived in an entirely different section of the original Edgecombe, which then covered not only its present area but parts of other present-day counties, Wilson, for example. Actually, I currently labor under the impression his statement above is incorrect since many, if not all of the Colemans remaining in Halifax County in the first U.S. Census of 1790 were recorded in the many wills of Nansemond County Colemans as recorded in Abstracts of Wills of Edgecombe County North Carolina 1733-1856 by Ruth Smith Williams and Margarette Glenn Griffin, Dixie Letter Service:Rocky Mount, North Carolina, Copyright 1956. A contributing factor to the confusion is the fact that Halifax County was incorporated by an act of the North Carolina legislature in 1758. But no one in Halifax made a formal move of the record keeping function for something like 20 years. Thus, it was late 1700s or approaching 1800 by the time Halifax County set up and started doing business for itself. The break was not a "clean" one as many continued to do business as usual in the Edgecombe County courts. Thus we continue to see, I believe, records of Halifax families in the Edgecombe court records long after 1758, despite the formation of Halifax at that time. I'd love to hear comment by others on this situation, as all this is new to me, having covered lots of research materials over the past 6 weeks or so. Nevertheless, or should I say, as a result of this situation, on p. 80, J. P. writes: Both the Jordons and the Colemans of Nansemond [County Virginia] were very prominent in Edgecombe County [NC] History from about 1745 to 1800. [Information in brackets I added for clarity here. - Wes] This he writes despite the fact (belief?) that those in Halifax County in 1790 were predominantly (completely?) from the Nansemond County line and continued to be "prominent", i.e., recorded in Court deeds as witnesses and such, well beyond 1800, up to 1850 where the Census records only one household of Colemans. The rest had relocated to such places as South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, and Mississippi. The Amelia County Coleman line in Halifax County NC were associated with Abraham Jones and Abraham Jones, Jr. who relocated from Amelia County to Halifax County, NC. The connection, a marriage between Susannah Jones and Robert Coleman of Amelia County, is recorded by J. P. Coleman on p. 60 of his book. I record what I know and think so far in this area on a longer article found at: http://freeweb.pdq.net/wcoleman/cole1684.htm I record this all here since these ideas cover a number of families in Edgecombe and later Halifax Counties for future reference. I also hope to learn more of these families from the Halifax marriage book, for the period up to 1850. Any marriages of Colemans, Jordans, Cohoons(Cahoons), and Jones before 1850 would be of interest. You may send me directly or post here those marriages and I would be most grateful. Anyone else with information relating to these families may send to me directly or post here and I will respond as soon as I can. Thanks to all and particularly to Traci, our most helpful librarian! _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com